Their Story (Minjae and Moonho)
by C.C. Baxter
Summary: What was not mentioned in the drama but what I was always curious about.
1. Chapter 1

Min Jae didn't like him the moment she first set her eyes on him.

They had politely nodded at each other across corridors and meeting rooms, but at a foreign correspondant's club party was the first place she properly saw him as who he really was. She walked into the lounge amidst low chatter and the clinking of glasses hoping to find a fellow colleague to pour out their working woes together, as well as perhaps to get to know a few more people from the industry. She spotted Moon Ho by the bar with another new recruit and was going to beeline for them, however, noticing the two girls hovering around him, clinging on to every word he said (even at a stuffy establishment like this?) made her realise that she would not be wanted. She rolled her eyes, tried to hide her discomfort at not having friends she could approach and leaned against the bar countertop, scanning the crowd around her while hoping to go unnoticed. She heard confident, deliberate footsteps coming her way from her left and did not look until she heard Moon Ho's chuckle, a sound that she would be very familiar with soon.

"Why not join us? We are having so much fun over there," he gestured with his chin at his group, where a few more of their mutual acquaintances had gathered. The two girls who had stuck close to Moon Ho earlier were looking over at their exchange with spiteful glances.

On an ordinary day, Min Jae would have taken it in stride and gone up to the group in order to network and made connections; and she would probably have enjoyed it as well, if she was in top form. However, though she did follow Moon Ho over to their circle, she mainly smiled and made short replies only when she was addressed. She kicked herself inwardly. _What is up with you? Get into your fighting mode!_ One of the girls leaned towards Moon Ho, seemingly off-balance in a tipsy state and he laughed and caught her around the shoulder naturally like this happened to him all the time.

Min Jae was disgusted; she muttered an excuse and went home, irritated and confused. She hated the easy and natural way he handled women, like he was used to women throwing themselves at him all the time. She hated his easy smile and arrogant laugh. Yes, that was it, she thought to herself. She hated all the things he represented - male chauvinism, the old boy's club, womanising, living off a silver spoon. Somehow she linked and dumped every thing she disliked about a certain kind of man on him, whether he was guilty of them or not.

* * *

As they were working under different teams, she did not have much interaction with him after that evening until a few weeks later. He was in the photocopy room, looking as if he was there just to catch a break in a place where his boss wouldn't see him. He was sipping instant coffee and flicking through the newspaper he had brought in with him. Min Jae came in hurriedly, not seeing him until she had finished fiddling with the copy machine. When she looked over and noticed his presence, he reciprocated the look, nodded, and continued as he had before, eyes skimming over the papers.

She looked at the large stack of scripts that she had inserted into the feeder and started to feel uncomfortable at how long she would have to wait here, in his presence. Suddenly she was aware of the silence the small enclosed space created upon them. As she glanced over at him now, she realised that she had thought quite a lot about him. Well, though they were thoughts of how hateful of a man he was, it still embarrassed her that she thought of him probably a lot more than he thought of her, who probably never once crossed his mind. She was annoyed at herself, Yoo Min Jae, for feeling flustered in this horrible person's presence when he was just coolly flicking through the newspaper. She involuntarily cleared her throat and stomped her heels around, readjusting her posture. He looked up questioningly. Great, now it seemed like she wanted to make conversation. She gave an exasperated sigh and looked away, not wanting to look at his amused expression though she could already feel it burning on her back, and stalked off to the toilet. She could always come back and get the scripts later.


	2. Chapter 2

It was at the coffee shop on the ground floor of their ABS building. Min Jae was lining up for coffee. She was trying to book the shabu-shabu place her boss wanted for hwaesik but they were fully booked. She made a sound of frustration, thinking of whether to simply book another place or tell him first and let him decide on another place. She had yet to feel out the depth and dimensions of her boss' pettiness and preferences - whether he would prefer the former or the latter decision. A knock came at the glass exteriors of the coffee shop - her colleague was pointing to his watch and gesturing to his car beside him - they had to hurry. God, sometimes staying in studio was just so much more relaxing, she thought as she jabbed her boss' number into her phone, resolving to call him first.

She suddenly felt a hand on her back gently pushing her forward. She jumped at the close contact and looked around to see Moon Ho smiling down at her, standing behind her in line and gesturing her to the counter where they were waiting to take her order. What was with this guy and skinskip anyway?! They were barely acquaintances. She shot an irritated look at him and strode forward to order.

Min Jae was still in a bad mood when she exited the cafe to join her colleague, with their takeaway lunch in tow. He probably thinks he can have his own way with women, shaking her head and muttering to herself. Well, not with her. She wasn't going to take his crap.

However, when she returned home that evening and sat curled up on the sofa with a glass of wine in her hand, the thought of his hand on her back came to her. She liked the feeling of that hand. It felt confident, warm, intimate. She shrugged. Maybe it was just because she hadn't been seeing anybody in a while. She fell asleep on the sofa, feeling a warm and soft embrace envelop her, emnating from a point somewhere around her lower back.

* * *

They happened to be sitting across each other during a company dinner at a barbeque place. As they were sitting right at the end of the long table, the sizzling of the meat and the loud conversations of the other customers in the cramped restaurant made them unable to follow the central conversation taking place down along their table. However, the loud noises around them was not enough to mask the silence that lay between them. Moon Ho reached over and dropped a piece of pork onto her plate.

"Are you always like this?"

She screwed up her face, not being able to hear. "What?"

He repeated in a louder voice. "Are you always like this?"

"Like what?"

He shrugged, as if there was no need to say the obvious.

"Like what?"

"Well... this bad-tempered and irritable? Men who want to flirt with you certainly have had a tough time... I feel sorry for them."

"Ya!" Startled by his frankness, she smacked him on the arm with the barbeque tweezers. (Then she was startled by _her_ own frankness). She nibbled on the piece of meat given to her and put it down. "And you. Are you always like this?"

"Like what?"

"Always having a girl on each arm, saying the cheesiest lines ever, dropping these lines as often as a gangster would swear. What kind of movies do you watch anyway? I haven't heard lines like that since Winter Sonata. And even then they were much better than yours."

He tried to sound affronted. "Hey, first, don't hate on Winter Sonata. And second, I haven't heard anyone not liking my charm. Tsk tsk, you're a hard one to please aren't you."

She was on a roll. "I hate guys like you the most. The ones that think they can get anything from women simply by flirting with them."

He laughed, looking amused that she had that balled up inside of her all this time. "And has that worked with you, Min Jae-sshi?"

She thumped her fist on the table, causing the cutlery and soju glass to bounce and their colleagues to turn over to look at them. "No! And it never will!" Then, realising how foolish she sounded, suddenly gave a shamefaced look and started to laugh. Moon Ho joined in, and together they gave their colleagues sheepish apologetic nods.

Conversation flowed easier after that. Once or twice after throughout the course of that meal they would recollect the ridiculous things they said about each other earlier and laugh and smile for no reason. That was the time they became friends.


	3. Chapter 3

"We have a lot to gain from being friends you know. You're smart, I'm smart (not to mention charming and handsome). We'll be a good team. We can start our own show."

They were walking with linked arms up the frozen pavement.

"Ehyu, friendship can't be calculated this way."

"Then why are we friends? Or rather, why did you become friends with me?"

"...Are you serious?"

"Yeah, I want to know why!"

"Well...just... you're not as bad as you seem."

He laughed. "Just that?"

"Yes, and that was the highest compliment you will get from me. Well...that and free coffee."

He nudged her in a mock-annoyed fashion and she laughed, leaning her head into the arm of his coat as they walked back to work.

* * *

One fallacy frequent in love stories is that the couple have no idea they are falling in love or chasing one another until, bam! it happens. But often that is not the case, as was true with Moon Ho and Min Jae. They were both adults with experience. Each move was underpinned by an awareness on both sides of how it was changing things between them; where it would lead to.

Such as the time when he leaned over her when she was sitting at her desk to grab her mouse (or rather, her hand on it) to show her something online. They were breathing in each other and both knew that the other also enjoyed the moment. He broke away after as long as decorum allowed, but still not without attracting a few glances and raised eyebrows from those nearly idle at their desks.

Such as the time when she texted him for no reason at night, and plainly told him so. And when he repeated the gesture the next night and the night after that. And so it became a routine.

Maybe it was the time when a few of them, the younger colleagues, went out clubbing. She couldn't stop laughing at his terrible dancing. "For someone so slick with words you sure don't have any moves!" He shrugged, unfazed, winked at her and pulled her out onto the dance floor, and after going crazy on the dance floor, she had rested her arm on his shoulder, short of breath.

To avoid a man with an armful of drinks nearly crashing into her, Moon Ho instinctively wrapped an arm around her waist and brought her close to him. She had a flash of the Moon Ho she first knew, the playboy slinging his arm casually around the girl at the bar. "Hey, don't play with me like you do with those bar girls," she wanted to reprimand him, but the words forgot to form themselves when she looked up at him. He was looking at her with, well, longing, if she dared to believe it, and she didn't know what to do or say.

They froze like that, looking at each other, with his hands around her waist, pressing her to him. Something around her ears were pulsating did not come from the music. _Shit, shit, something is going to happen_, she thought, and suddenly the music ended, the mood broke and he released her, both of them laughing, embarrassed, to make up for their lack of words. For once Moon Ho didn't have something clever to say.

Somehow, without any discussion, everyone, including the pair in question, knew that Moon Ho would be the one to send Min Jae home that night.

* * *

"Hey"

"Hmmmm?"

She secretly loved that lazy _hmmm_ which she suspected (or hoped) he just reserved for her.

"Nothing. Just...-"

"You should see what I just bought, Min Jae-ya,"

She forgot when he started adding the "-ya" instead of the regular "-sshi". "Hmmm? What did you buy?" She was sleepy.

"A new sports car. I'm looking at it now."

"A what?! God, you rich kids, I can't stand the lot of you. I only saved up to buy my second-hand Hyundai last year and it's already your, what, 3rd sports car?"

Moon Ho was standing in his living room holding up a model toy sports car. He chuckled at how affronted Min Jae sounded and tried to imagine himself with three life-size sports cars, the way Min Jae probably pictured him right now. He smiled, shook his head and put the model car on a shelf next to an empty photo frame. He should really put a picture of some of his loved ones in it, he thought. The image of Min Jae floated to his mind but he wasn't sure whether he thought she was special, or because he was simply picturing her because she was talking to him over the phone now.


End file.
